Bygone Tail Lights?

[George Schick]

As we all know, things in this country have changed a lot recently.  So instead of doing most of my riding on sometimes crowded MUP's I've decided to take the bike for a short train trip to an adjacent county where I can ride on mostly lightly traveled farm-to-market roads.  But I felt like I should probably mount some kind of rear LED tail light that has flashing capabilities to alert motorists approaching from the rear.  Well, I looked and looked for a "bar" tail light that could be mounted to the back of my short "Mark's" mini-rack that has minimal clearance between the mounting hole and the top of the rear fender (see attached photo).  Turns out that apparently no one is making those any more - everything now is plastic with rubber mountings to go on the chain stays or plastic clamps to be mounted on the seat post.  Anyone know of a place where one can still get the "light bar" style that used to be available for rear rack mounting?

[Peter Ludemann]

I have one of these mounted on my rack:

https://www.peterwhitecycles.com/taillights.php#rackmounted

(search for "toplight")

It's powered by a hub generator but I think there are battery-powered versions. 

On Mon, 6 Apr 2020 at 12:05, George Schick <bhi...@gmail.com> wrote:

As we all know, things in this country have changed a lot recently.  So instead of doing most of my riding on sometimes crowded MUP's I've decided to take the bike for a short train trip to an adjacent county where I can ride on mostly lightly traveled farm-to-market roads.  But I felt like I should probably mount some kind of rear LED tail light that has flashing capabilities to alert motorists approaching from the rear.  Well, I looked and looked for a "bar" tail light that could be mounted to the back of my short "Mark's" mini-rack that has minimal clearance between the mounting hole and the top of the rear fender (see attached photo).  Turns out that apparently no one is making those any more - everything now is plastic with rubber mountings to go on the chain stays or plastic clamps to be mounted on the seat post.  Anyone know of a place where one can still get the "light bar" style that used to be available for rear rack mounting?

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[Bill Sadlick]

I use one of these and have it zip tied to the mounting plate on the rack.

https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/equipment/cycling-accessories/bike-lights/bike-rear-lights/bontrager-flare-1-rear-bike-light/p/11367/?colorCode=black

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From: bicyclel...@googlegroups.com <bicyclel...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Peter Ludemann <peter.l...@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, April 6, 2020 2:53 PM
To: bicyclel...@googlegroups.com <bicyclel...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: {BL} Bygone Tail Lights?

 

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/bicyclelifestyle/CAHjfyZ3n63%2BiLDmOe6PxqR3L5cOSenZxJur4L4Eu5rGwyMTEmw%40mail.gmail.com.

[Steven Tuggle]

Planet bike and others offer a rear rack taillight bracket (SKU 3108) so that you can use those seat post mount type rear lights.  BTW, do you have any other shots of that wood platform on your rear rack?  That looks really nice.

Steve

[George Schick]

Well, Steve - yes.  I got tired of the Barley bag hanging over the sides of the Mark's rack and decided to make a platform from leftover 1/4" plywood which I fastened to the rack using bolts and nuts to secure it.  I also used spacers between the bottom of the rack and the plywood to keep things level - nylon, I think, from the hardware store. I also finished the plywood platform with a varnish to keep it more or less waterproof.  Here are a few more pic's:

 

 

[Steven Tuggle]

George, 

Thank you for sharing.  That looks awesome!  I will be inspired to try something like that on one of my bikes.  Oh, and I see that you have a Rambo in my favorite orange color ever!

Steve

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From: bicyclel...@googlegroups.com <bicyclel...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of George Schick <bhi...@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, April 6, 2020 8:17 PM
To: Bicycle Lifestyle <bicyclel...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: {BL} Re: Bygone Tail Lights?

 

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[Matthew Liggett]

I have that planet bike bracket, but it requires a different kind of mounting tab on the rack than the one pictured.  (Mine is on a Bike Friday folding rack.)

The Mark's rack has a single hole, which is going to allow any light to spin unless something else is added to stabilize it.

On Mon, Apr 6, 2020 at 2:55 PM Steven Tuggle <steven...@hotmail.com> wrote:

Planet bike and others offer a rear rack taillight bracket (SKU 3108) so that you can use those seat post mount type rear lights.  BTW, do you have any other shots of that wood platform on your rear rack?  That looks really nice.

Steve

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Matt Liggett

[mtb responder]

I have the same issue with my rack. Will this work?
https://velo-orange.com/products/e3-light-bracket-small

[George Schick]

Hmmmm....yeah, ya know it just might.  It could be mounted to the rack via the single hole, offset to the left side of the bike so that one of those new-fangled lights could be fastened where the two hole are located.  Thanks!

[mtb responder]

Glad to help. Send a pic if you get it set up! Interested to see how it might work for my rack;)

[George Schick]

OK, folks. I got the solution.  As advised, I visited the Planet Bike website and looked at tail lights.  I saw no mounting brackets, but I did see a light that I liked a lot.  It was called Grateful Red and it came in two flavors: battery operated and re-chargable via a USB port (which contains a lithium-ion polymer battery like the kind found in digital cameras and cell phones).  I opted for the latter because I liked the re-chargablility and the fact that the the mini-USB port (actually a mini-HDMI connector if you want to be technical).  The kit came with a T-shaped mounting bracket that has four holes with recessed hex-head fixtures for the mounting bolts.  As one poster pointed out, a single mounting hole will allow the light to twirl.  But since the bracket has the recessed hex heads and the kit comes with the nuts, bolts, flat washers, and locking washers I was able to snug it up nice and tight and that doesn't seem to be a problem.

It worked perfectly on my very low clearance (due to the short length of the "Mark's" mini-rack) between the rack mounting hole and the fender.  I did have to cut off a securing tab on the light's mounting bracket to get it to fit into that tight space, but didn't consider it big deal because the light slides on to the bracket very snuggly and the fact that it's a vertical application.  The light works in three modes: steady, strobe-like flashing, and one flash-per-second.  I prefer the last of these because sends approaching vehicle, bikes, or whatever, that you're there without annoying excessive flashing.  If you want more details on the light and its mounting and charging accessories surf into the Planet Bike website.  Meanwhile, here are some pic's on how it looks:

[mtb responder]

Turned out nice! I’ll try to source one also.